Home-cooked food, I miss you dearly.

I've come to the conclusion that when you're away, you miss home the most when you're feeling sick. Despite their enticing odour and delicious taste, I seem to have formed a love-hate relationship with Chinese dishes, and the other night, we had a fight.

... Chinese food: 10, Lauren: 0.

I'm feeling quite a bit better now, after receiving a mix of Chinese and North American "medical" advice ("Eat a banana and burned toast" ... "No, red sugar water is best, he doesn't know what he's talking about!" etc etc). In the end, spending most of yesterday in bed and sticking to a diet consisting mostly of bread, water, and yes, a banana, my tummy seems to be slowly recovering.

The good news is I've made a friend as a result of these couple days of feeling rather awful. I don't know her Chinese name, but the respectful term I'm to give her is Ai yi, which means aunt. The woman that we're living with, Zhang Ai Ling, expressed her concern to me many times yesterday, offering to cook me food, and letting me borrow her hot water bottle to soothe my tummy in the evening. She called one of the foster parents here on the compound and asked if she would cook for me, since Zhang laoshi (laoshi = teacher) works at the office and teaches class during the day. She arranged for me to go over this morning for breakfast, and so I did, only to find that Aiyi is the friendliest, warmest person I've met so far. She welcomed me with open arms and began jabbering away in Chinese, telling me how the Chinese treat stomach aches, and offering to cook whatever it is I liked. I was fed eggs and this delicious soup, whose contents I'm still not entirely sure of, along with a cup of steaming red sugar water (similar to brown sugar, but tastes a little more like molasses). We chatted about past China Care volunteers that had stayed with her in previous years, about my family, where I'm from, and what kind of projects we're working on for the summer. Our conversation remained rather limited but I could tell that she enjoys a good chat. She was patient with my somewhat broken Chinese and helped me express what I wanted to say when the words wouldn't come.

I went back later this afternoon to tell her thank you, but that I wouldn't be joining them for lunch, just to make sure I don't overdo it as I recover. She, her husband, and her mother care for several foster children. Their dining table was surrounded by 4 growing boys who I recognized from the classes that Tim, Callie and Ysabelle are teaching. I think I wrote about the newswires we're expected to write in my last entry. Incase not, we've each been asked to write 10 short articles that may be used as promotional material for China Care back in North America regarding pretty much anything we experience here. I decided this morning that I would see if Aiyi was willing to be interviewed for one of them. Fostering children, not to mention ones with disabilities, and treating them as your own, must take so much love and courage. I don't know what the chances are for these children to be adopted or if they'll be under China Care's watch until they're 18 and ready to get out on their own ... Which is also something I'm curious to know more about. Eighteen is still so young, yet China Care can only afford to keep children in foster care til they reach that age, if they aren't adopted that is. The oldest one here at the moment is 14; his name is Max. As they grow up, China Care offers a protected environment where the kids' disabilities are not stigmatized within their homes, unlike the real world. What'll happen in 4 years when Max has to go?

We've been spending less time going over the home and volunteering with the kids, mainly because it's much less convenient to get to. John Speed and I will be going there more often though, I to work on my mural and John Speed to work on his landscaping project outside in the courtyard. We've got a lot of work ahead of us but the outcome should be nice. I'd like to spend more time at the home this week, but perhaps we're all spending less time there because of the new lack of comfort. The new home feels far more institutionalized (sorry if I'm being redundant - did I already write about this?) and the last time we were there, the one room we stayed in was full to capacity with Aiyis and babies, making our presence feel unnecessary. I certainly miss the proximity and flow of the old set up.

Will write more later about our weekend spent at the Summer Palace. It is stunning.

Sending you love!
lb.

p.s. If it's of interest to anyone, my friend John Speed's been putting together fun, short video clips and picture reels of our experience here in China so far. It'll give you an idea of the friends I've made here and some of the places we've seen. My pictures aren't included but we're also thinking of starting an online photo album with a culmination of all our pictures... Anyway, check it out: www.youtube.com/user/jospeed1988 ... Enjoy!